This Black Panther Star Proves Why Pink is the Color of Empowerment on International Women's Day

Danai Gurira is celebrating Ladies Day by ensuring her voice is heard. The playwright, actress, and activist made her way to the United Nations' Observance of International Women's Day in New York this morning—an event at which she was slated to speak—in modern warrior guise, her buzz cut paired with a swipe of unapologetically bold pink lipstick.

Gurira's career is one built on female empowerment, every move serving to pave the way for legions of females to follow. Consider her take The Walking Dead's resident badass Michonne; her self-penned Broadway show Eclipsed, which follows five women and their struggle for survival during the end of the Second Liberian Civil War; her interpretation of General Okoye in the boundary-breaking film Black Panther; and her recently announced plans to pen a screenplay (along with Lupita Nyong'o) for feminist author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s best-selling novel Americanah, and it quickly becomes clear that Gurira is at the creative forefront of the modern women's movement.

Today, rather than reaching for the crimson lipstick that dominated the red carpet in an unanticipated show of solidarity at this year's Golden Globes, Gurira's makeup statement of choice centered on a bold fuchsia iteration and matching blush that reaffirmed why power and femininity are synonymous. In a recent interview, the actress offered a laconic summary: “Do we want to progress? If we want to progress, let women be all they can be. Don’t get in their way.” When in doubt, an application of lip-level armor may just help you speak your truth—and blaze your own trail.